USS Ponaganset
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Ponaganset |
Namesake | Ponaganset River in Rhode Island |
Builder | Marinship, Sausalito, California |
Laid down | 27 April 1942 |
Launched | 10 July 1943 |
Commissioned | 15 May 1944 |
Decommissioned | 26 April 1946 |
Stricken | 23 April 1947 |
Honors and awards | 2 battle stars (World War II) |
Fate | Broke in two at Boston, 9 December 1947. Sold for scrap, 7 January 1949. |
General characteristics | |
Type | Suamico-class fleet replenishment oiler |
Displacement |
|
Length | 523 ft 6 in (159.56 m) |
Beam | 68 ft (21 m) |
Draft | 30 ft 10 in (9.40 m) |
Propulsion | Turbo-electric, single screw, 8,000 hp (5,966 kW) |
Speed | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) |
Capacity | 140,000 barrels (22,000 m3) |
Complement | 267 to 300 |
Armament |
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USS Ponaganset AO-86/AOG-86) was a
Ponaganset was
Service history
World War II, 1944–1946
After
The problem of getting fresh water to the smaller ships which did not have distilling apparatus became increasingly acute as the fleet moved westward. Large combatant ships and auxiliaries were ordered to issue water to small craft needing it, but demands could not be met solely in this way. The newly commissioned fleet oilers Ocklawaha and Ponaganset were used to carry potable water to ships and bases in the forward area.
Water was available at a number of points in the South Pacific for the 3rd Fleet, and in the Southwest Pacific for the Morotai Operation Interlude forces. It was likewise available on certain harbor craft in the Marshalls. At Manus, where 2,000,000 US gallons (7,600 m3) a day, filtered and chlorinated, were available, it could be obtained after 1 September for both 3rd Fleet and Southwest Pacific forces. Besides the shore facilities at Manus, the barges YO-186, with 55,000 barrels (8,700 m3), and YW-90, with 280,000 US gallons (1,100 m3), were sent to Captain Ogden from Eniwetok late in August. They had been filled from the Ponaganset and from surplus in ships returning to Pearl.
In the South Pacific area where most of the amphibious forces were serviced, the naval base at Tulagi estimated that, between 15 August and 1 September, 20,917,000 US gallons (79,180 m3) of water was supplied to LSTs, LCIs, and small craft. No figures are available for Guadalcanal, but that base supplied water in tremendous quantities to the ships and troops which staged in that area.
The Ponaganset, with 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) of water, reached Eniwetok on 2 August, discharged cargo, and returned to Pearl to reload. With a fresh 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) aboard, she was ordered to Guadalcanal to take part in the logistic preparations of the amphibious forces. From 27 August to 4 September she discharged fresh water to various harbor and patrol craft.[1]
In April she carried water to the
She then steamed to Ulithi, the
1946–1949
On 9 December 1947 Ponaganset fractured into two sections while tied at dockside in Boston:
The source of the fracture was an arc strike located at the toe of a fillet weld that joined a chock in the deck. ... The presence of the sharp cracks in the arc strike located in a region of high residual stress resulting from the fillet weld provided the necessary conditions for fracture initiation at temperatures below the NDT. As indicated by the fracture analysis diagram, the failure temperature was 15°F below the NDT temperature of the source plate. The steel was typical of the World War II production material which features relatively high carbon and low manganese contents.
— U.S. Naval Research Laboratory report 5920
On 2 March 1948 the vessel was reacquired by the navy "as is where is". On 2 June 1948 title was transferred back to the Maritime Commission at the
Awards
Ponaganset decommissioned on 26 April 1946 and was struck from the
Ponaganset earned two
References
- OCLC 781884. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- HyperWar's USS Ponaganset (AO-86) page
- US Naval Research Laboratory report 5920 on USS Ponaganset sinking at disastercity.info
- Silverstone, Paul (1965). U.S. warships of World War II. Gerden City, NY: Doubleday. p. 324.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Ponaganset at NavSource Naval History
- The T2 Tanker Page